All:
Happy (belated) New Year! In this newsletter I take some time to go through some of the work from 2024 and look forward to 2025. As a new year unfolds, I reflect on and review the last year and look ahead. Below are some notes on a few of the most important parts of my work last year and some thoughts on other notable events. It is a long review – and yet covers only some of the work! If you’re interested in digging into more of what we were able to accomplish this year (big or small), check out my newsletter archive here. I try to make my newsletters a place where folks can quickly get updated on all things Cambridge City Council and learn about how I think about all the issues. Please forward to others who may be interested in the newsletters. (Note: I don’t add anyone without a request and unsubscribe anyone who asks.)
I generally keep newsletters focused locally, but it’s impossible not to acknowledge that the federal government is already different in 2025. It will be a challenging time for the city, state, and country as we assess what changes are coming with the change in administration. It is public that Cambridge and Massachusetts and our two largest institutions, Harvard and MIT, are targets for the new administration. While laws will guide whether the directive to withhold funding for sanctuary jurisdictions – of which we are – succeeds, and there is some sense that those efforts are illegal, there is uncertainty. And in the area of climate mitigation and action, there is no doubt that the change in administration directly impacts our ability as a city and state to get things done. With President Trump and a Republican controlled House and Senate, we will have a much harder time securing funding for important climate initiatives, we will need to focus more time and energy into protecting vulnerable residents, and we will need to protect our hard-fought progress.
I spoke at a rally last weekend on the Boston Common, and the message of all the speakers was that we should not give up hope, that we need to support each other, and that we not lose sight of our values. I will post my speech on my website for those who are interested (only a few minutes long) this weekend.
This year, 2025, will start with the most consequential zoning change in decades, the Multifamily Housing Zoning Proposal. For years I have supported allowing multi-family zoning everywhere. The current petition is not one I would have put forth. I am on record that we should have passed the other petitions we failed to act on – and now have a petition which not only allows multi-family housing citywide but would also allow higher height buildings everywhere. The council decided to only allow six stories on the condition that some affordable housing is included. That is an important and needed change. I have pushed for us to include affordable housing – especially for workforce/middle income housing, which inclusionary zoning allows. This Monday the Council will vote on the petition which was sent to the full council with a favorable recommendation. After Monday’s vote, the final vote will be two weeks later, on February 10. Changes can be made to the petition as late as February 10 as long as they do not change the fundamental nature of the petition. You can watch the recording of the last Ordinance Committee meeting from January 16 here. I am still considering options and will write more extensively on the petition in its current form in my next newsletter. If you haven’t received my statement January 8, which outlines how I have been thinking about the different machinations of the zoning proposal it is available.
Looking ahead, I had expected to work on a number of initiatives in 2025, and now with the upcoming question of how our budget will be affected by the downturn and new federal administration, we need to consider if any of our plans need to change. We are still in an incredibly fortunate situation: our city finances are strong and our residents are resilient. While we need to prepare to face headwinds not in our control, with fires still raging near Los Angeles and snow in Florida, we cannot ignore that the existential threat posed by continued fossil fuel use is real. I will continue working on that pressing issue this year.
If you made resolutions for the new year, I hope they are working to bring you satisfaction. Future newsletters will focus on regular council work – this week, enjoy the 2024 year in review and 2025 preview. If you have questions or comments on these or anything else I’ve been working on, please reach out at any time.
Patty
2024 in Review
Committee Work
This term, I have been honored to be reappointed as co-chair of the Finance Committee and chair of the Health and Environment Committee and I take both of those roles very seriously. I see committee work on the council as an opportunity to work on issues in a way that is public, transparent, and collaborative. Part of the interesting thing about being a city councillor is that there isn’t really a how-to guide on how to be effective. For me, a lot of my most effective work was through holding committee meetings to investigate issues and have discussions and then following up with policy proposals. I believe that when we bring people to the table in order to tackle complicated issues, we can work towards common goals together – and I think the results speak to that. In the Health and Environment Committee I held 6 hearings in 2024 on topics including: climate resilience infrastructure, green jobs, waste reduction and single-use plastics, BEUDO implementation, and more. These meetings focused on assessing current progress on a number of city goals. Ensuring we continue to make effective progress on stated goals requires consistent oversight and management, and committee meetings are an important way of checking in on progress. In the Finance Committee, my appointed co-chair was Councillor Pickett, who tragically passed away last August. I was lucky to have worked with her and as co-chairs we worked to build on a lot of the financial oversight that former-councillor Dennis Carlone and I worked towards as co-chairs last term. This fall, my new co-chair, Councillor Toner, and I have been continuing that work, holding a number of important meetings focused on long-term financial planning for the city. In 2025 we built on the work of the last two budget cycles, which offered the council and the community opportunities to give input before budget adoption in the spring, when the budget is officially presented and essentially finalized. Over the last two budget cycles, I have worked to hold meetings earlier in the fiscal year which have allowed for deeper discussions with City staff on budget priorities and long-term fiscal planning.
Climate Highlights
Early on last year, the City Manager announced a reorganization of the Community Development Department, to better manage the workflow and multitude of projects. One of the exciting changes from a climate crisis standpoint is the creation of a Chief Climate Officer reporting directly to him. Julie Wormser was then hired as the City’s first Chief Climate Officer and now oversees the new Sustainability Office that will take over all the environmental planning staff from CDD’s Environment and Transportation Planning Division. There is still a lot of overlap between departments as our climate work is interjurisdictional and needs to be. I believe this reorganization will help us prioritize climate and sustainability within the city. The urgency of addressing the climate crisis has been a focus of mine since I was elected and I look forward to working to make this new department as effective as possible.
BEUDO Implementation
After passing the potentially transformational amendments to the Building Energy Use Disclosure Ordinance (BEUDO) in June of 2023, I have been very focused on ensuring the successful implementation of the ordinance – including financial incentives for energy efficiency upgrades. I filed a policy order asking City staff to develop financial and technical assistance for building decarbonization and clean energy projects for property owners of all types, especially those with limited resources. The City Manager delivered a report with funding options and recommendations, including an annual $2mil Decarbonization Program for medium-sized BEUDO properties. This funding will be on top of all the federal and state incentives listed in the report and will be an essential tool for decarbonization of buildings under 100k sqft. Another tool will be PACE (the Massachusetts Property Assessed Clean Energy Program), and I have filed numerous policy orders – dating back to October 2020 – asking for participation in the program that will provide a financing mechanism to private owners of commercial and industrial properties for energy improvements. This is something I have been working on for many years, and participation in PACE was a key recommendation of the CCWG and the Climate Committee. We got a report back in August 2023 that indicated that PACE was feasible and recommended to be implemented in Cambridge. In September 2024, after months of waiting, I filed a policy order asking for an update on progress, and in November we received a report on implementation. Additionally, it is important to note that BEUDO not only applies to privately-owned buildings, but also City-owned buildings, and so understanding how the City plans to comply with the ordinance is very important. Earlier last year I cosponsored a policy order to get an update for the municipal facilities improvement plan (MFIP), which is intrinsically tied to our climate work and planning for BEUDO-required emissions reductions. Having this up to date cost information is essential for responsible capital planning. We have not gotten that update yet, so I look forward to discussing in 2025.
Regulating emissions of large buildings is the most impactful action we can take at the city level to avert the worst impacts of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emission pollution locally, which is why I worked with other councillors last term to pass BEUDO amendments to require emissions reductions from large buildings. Last year my main focus was on coming up with ways to match those reductions requirements with the funding and technical support to make those reductions happen. On October 8 I chaired a meeting of the Health and Environment Committee to receive an update from city staff on BEUDO implementation and to review and discuss regulations. This meeting was an important benchmark and a review of current progress. The Cambridge Net Zero Action Plan identifies access to capital and financing as a key barrier preventing many building owners from completing energy upgrades and suggests: “it will be important to identify funding or financing vehicles that owners currently have access to, understand where there are gaps, and, if needed, create a support structure that links retrofit activities to capital.” The Climate Committee has also regularly asked for more resources to meet the city’s goals. Environmental justice and equity drive decisions on climate actions, which requires attention to the financial needs and capacity of all stakeholders including those in need of technical and financial assistance, and by providing access to funding and capital resources, Cambridge can incentivize decarbonization, reduce greenhouse gas emissions citywide, and provide a model of equitable access to action against climate change. I look forward to working with the City Manager to make this technical and financial support system a reality.
Other Climate Highlights
Of course BEUDO isn’t the only climate work, so I wanted to highlight a few other important notes. Back in March I held a Health & Environment Committee meeting to discuss regional coastal flood resilience interventions required to address increased vulnerability due to climate change risk. It was a hugely important meeting which went into detail on many of the ongoing regional infrastructure projects and coordinated efforts being undertaken to protect our city and the surrounding region from the effects of climate change. We are doing a lot to mitigate stormwater and coastal flooding and are continuing to collaborate with regional partners from state agencies and regional non-profits like the Charles River Watershed Association and the Mystic River Watershed Association to get similar buy-in from municipalities in the region. I would urge you to take some time to watch the recording of the meeting to learn more about ongoing work.
I also held Health and Environment Committee meetings in April to review the Net Zero Action Plan (NZAP) annual report, in June to discuss the first Green Jobs Annual Report, and in October to discuss the updates to the Zero Waste Master Plan (ZWMP). I will have more meetings in 2025 to finalize the ZWMP 2.0 update, to review and adopt the City’s first Net Zero Transportation Plan.
Finally, I want to highlight the City’s finalizing of a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) for all city electricity that will start in 2026. By collaborating with other major area institutions, including MIT, Harvard, local hospitals, and others, Cambridge is financing the construction of a wind farm in North Dakota and will essentially take credit for the renewable energy generated and apply it to our own municipal electricity use. This idea is one the Climate Crisis Working Group advocated for two years ago, and I am thrilled to finally see that it is happening – I sponsored a resolution congratulating City staff on this important achievement. And only a few weeks later, a similar power purchase agreement was finalized for residential use as part of the Cambridge Community Electricity Program.
Public Health
In May I filed a policy order requesting a report on monitoring Per- and Poly-fluoroalkyls, known more commonly as PFAS, which are a group of human-made chemicals not found naturally in the environment that are linked to a variety of diseases and health conditions. You may have heard them referred to as “forever” chemicals. The City has addressed PFAS in a number of ways and we should be continuing to monitor levels throughout our water, products, and food cycles so that we can address sources and reduce dangerous side effects. The City Manager submitted a report in June that provides a good overview of the current thinking around PFAS addressing the local, state, and federal landscape. This report outlines a number of different perspectives to analyze PFAS. Discussions around PFAS contamination in public water supply have been happening and many of you will remember recent investments within the Cambridge Water system with the installation of new carbon filters. It is good to see within the report that our PFAS levels for all 6 analytes within Cambridge drinking water are either undetectable or trace amounts below a quantified level. But drinking water is only one area in which we see PFAS within our ecosystem. I was glad to see the section on Turf athletic fields. We have had this conversation before and I have consistently brought up concerns around artificial turf installation within the city. It is good to see this concern is being taken into account in procuring the new turf at Danehy Park and that independent testing will be completed on turf materials. We have also talked about fire fighting products previously, so I’m glad that information is included here as well. Waste streams are a complicated issue when it comes to PFAS mitigation as the waste outputs there comprise inputs from PFAS infiltration throughout society. Waste stream analysis may be able to better identify the full extent of PFAS contamination within our city’s ecosystems, but removal will still need to be focused on reduction in initial exposure across society. More work will need to be done to understand PFAS in waste products and biosolids, and as the report suggests, the EPA and MassDEP are currently studying this. I don’t go a week without reading an unnerving study on PFAS contamination in a number of sources in nature and in human products and I will be continuing to push to do everything we can in order to reduce contamination upstream and avoid contaminated products downstream.
Another public health issue I worked on this year was related to asbestos concerns in Alewife construction related to a new access tunnel for the Red Line. The policy order I filed directs the City Manager to work with the MBTA to ensure they are meeting Cambridge Ordinance requirements during their construction, including and especially, the Cambridge Asbestos Protection Ordinance. I am grateful to the residents who have been meeting with the MBTA about the need to protect public health. In particular, the Alewife Study Group has been the lead convener of an inclusive process with the T, landowner IQHQ, Mass Audubon, the Conservation Commission, and other neighborhood groups. I am deeply appreciative of the time it takes to have input, and I know that we will be the better for this volunteer effort. This project is very important to the continued effectiveness of the Red Line, but it can and should be done in accordance with the important protections of the Asbestos Protection Ordinance, and it’s important that we, as a city, enforce our ordinances to best protect the public health of our residents.
Zoning Highlights
Throughout 2024 there were a number of ongoing zoning conversations within the City (many still ongoing) and I want to provide a bit of context on how they all fit together. Over the last several years, the Council and City staff have been considering ways to end exclusionary zoning districts within Cambridge and to allow multifamily housing units to be built citywide. It’s no doubt a complicated and nuanced issue, but I am glad we are continuing the discussion on ending exclusionary housing and eliminating single and two-family only zones – I sponsored a policy order with Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Marc McGovern, and Denise Simmons in 2020, which was the first formal request for the city to eliminate exclusionary zoning. It is a bold, actionable step that we can take in short order – to allow multifamily housing across the city. That conversation has taken place in many different venues: I held two committee meetings on the topic back in 2021 and there have been a number of citizen-led petitions, most recently the Ronayne Petition, which we discussed early in 2024, but the majority of the Council decided not to act on. Throughout 2024 and up to and including last night, the Council and the community have been discussing a Council petition, spearheaded by the Housing Committee, considering different approaches to eliminating exclusionary zoning and improving multifamily housing development. This has been a largely controversial discussion and I have been doing my best to update folks through my regular newsletters, because it has changed significantly over the course of the last year. As I mentioned in the introduction, I will include more detailed thoughts in my next newsletter, but broadly, I would have preferred the approach suggested by both CDD as well as in the Ronayne petition: making multifamily housing legal across the city by primarily “legalizing” existing housing and allowing homeowners additional flexibility with ADUs; then addressing affordability concerns in tandem with the zoning changes by considering municipal vouchers and workforce housing solutions. From there we could have concentrated on increased density in corridors and squares and then moved to neighborhood zoning. The majority of the Council disagreed with that strategy and so we find ourselves in a place of working towards compromise with the current approach.
In addition to the multifamily zoning conversation, the Council has also been considering zoning changes to Central Square. This conversation is also running parallel to the Central Square Lots Study, which seeks to find best uses for a variety of City-owned parcels in and around Central Square. For decades the City and the community have been considering ways to enliven Central Square and a large part of that is rezoning. It is disappointing that after so many reports and so many discussions that we have not been able to put in place zoning. I hope that this Council can work to prioritize the work in Central Square. There are also a number of other zoning-related priorities including updates to the shared parking rules, Cambridge Street rezoning, Mass Ave Planning Study, and the additional areas of Alewife that were not included in the Alewife Zoning Working Group. CDD attempted to prioritize some of the work in a memo in June.
Last term I filed a policy order asking for a report on the use of short-term rentals in Cambridge (i.e. AirBnb, etc.). I filed a similar policy order in September following up on that request. In October the City Manager delivered a report. The intent of the Short-Term Rentals (STR) Ordinance, which passed in August 2017 and made the operation of short-term rentals legal for Cambridge residents, was to enhance the city by supporting residents wanting to operate STRs without compromising housing availability or affordability. While there are state and municipal requirements for short-term rental operators, there are examples from other places with different rules which might be appropriate for Cambridge, now that the experience of the past seven years can be reviewed. There have also been a number of instances reported to the City Council of neighbors who have provided their evidence that some residents are not following the rules, yet determining whether the rules are being followed and enforcing them can be challenging. I sponsored a policy order asking for specific ordinance changes based on the recommendations from City staff. I look forward to getting that language and passing amendments to the STR ordinance in early 2025.
In the fall, the Board of Zoning Appeal (BZA) submitted a zoning petition to the City Council to formalize in zoning the practice of adding “dormer” additions to existing buildings. Dormers are an important part of maintaining a healthy housing ecosystem as it is a flexibility mechanism for existing property owners to add additional units to their homes without teardowns or significant disruption. After discussion and some amendments, we passed the zoning petition in December. Overall I think the petition was well intentioned and informed and will help property owners avoid difficult and unnecessary trips to the BZA to discuss relatively benign variance issues.
Transportation Highlights
2024 was a difficult year for road safety in Cambridge as we experienced the death of three cyclists on our streets. That is incredibly difficult to deal with and we have worked hard to try to grapple with the incidents and make changes to improve road safety. Those changes took a number of forms, including public engagement with Rules of the Road to improve safety through education of road users, inclusion of crash analysis data with Vision Zero planning, improving truck safety regulations, and making targeted improvements to road safety at intersections. That work is ongoing and will continue in 2025.
Cycling Safety Ordinance
In 2024, we received the 4th annual Cycling Safety Ordinance (CSO) Annual Report. This annual report is required as part of the ordinance to outline installation progress and outstanding work. It’s an important benchmark for a few reasons: it allows us to review year-over-year progress in installing separated bike lanes, it breaks down overall progress into individual projects, which can be easier to analyze, and it outlines installation planning for the upcoming construction year (i.e. this spring, summer, and fall). I think it’s important to note that this annual report has improved from year to year, and there are still important benchmarks that need to be included in future years. This year, at the urging of the Council, the annual report includes information about parking loss for individual projects. Additionally, this year we also received the CSO Economic Impact Report.
Numerous times last year the City Council discussed ordinance changes in order to extend the timeline requirements of the CSO. Those debates went through several iterations and eventually the Council voted for a six month extension to install the remaining sections of the CSO. After months of debate and consideration, and after initially voting for a longer extension, I was supportive of the November 30, 2026 deadline and the work plan presented by City staff. I wrote more extensively about my decision at the time in my newsletter. Since then, the Transportation Department announced a Cambridge Street Safety Improvement Project working group and announced the launch of the Broadway Safety Improvement Project. Both of these projects have been further broken down into individual sections as a part of the extension of the CSO, allowing for more focus on specific sections. In conjunction with the timeline extension, the Council also discussed and passed changes to zoning to allow for additional flexible parking along business corridors, which will allow local businesses to open up their underutilized parking to the general public for use. This change is meant to ameliorate the loss of parking due to the installation of separated bike lanes on some streets.
In December the Council considered, and unanimously supported, a policy order I sponsored with Vice Mayor McGovern and Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler that asks City staff to start the process of updating the Cambridge Bicycle Plan, which was most recently updated in 2020, to identify potential improvements and consider next steps for the bike lane network and especially how to coordinate routes with neighboring communities including Arlington, Somerville, Watertown, Belmont, and Boston. Also mentioned in the policy order is the work on the Grand Junction multi-use path, which can be transformational on the east side of the city. We need to continue to transform our streets to make them safer, more accessible, and environmentally cleaner, and that we can do that best through a robust and inclusive community process. I am excited to have that work begin, so the community will have notice that we will be looking to extend and improve the network of protected bike lanes AND have time to weigh in and adjust to any proposed changes. The Crimson wrote an article about the policy order and the Council discussion. I look forward to hearing from City staff in 2025 on how that community process will look.
Automated Parking Enforcement
In recent years, the City Council has worked to enact local legislation which would allow for automated traffic enforcement. I sponsored a June 2023 policy order to allow us to issue tickets for some traffic violations using cameras that led to a home rule petition which sadly has not passed, but I hope to pursue again in 2025. In September I sponsored a policy order which asked the City Manager to implement a pilot program for automated ticketing of parking violations. Those of you who follow this work closely will remember I filed a similar policy order in November of 2023. Since then, I have been working to better understand the statutory landscape in Massachusetts for automated enforcement. As the text of the policy order suggests, Cambridge and Boston have somewhat unique legal considerations as it relates to parking enforcement. The legal opinion from the Law Department confirms some next steps we can take in order to pursue automated parking enforcement – which also may include a home rule petition. Automated parking enforcement is something I and the Council fully support. Parking violations, it’s important to note, are not victimless crimes and can affect disability parking access, transit service, loading zones, bicycle safety, and emergency vehicle access, especially in our commercial squares. I look forward to continuing to make progress on this initiative early in 2025. The Harvard Crimson wrote about the proposal here.
Other Transportation Highlights
Memorial Drive
Memorial Drive has been in desperate need of safety improvements for over a decade at this point, and in the last ten years alone, there have been over 1200 crashes reported. Those statistics alone should indicate that the state should move with haste to make necessary improvements, but over the years, progress has stalled for a number of reasons. Before I was elected to Council, in April 2019 I went to a community meeting at the Morse School hosted by DCR about their plans for a comprehensive design addressing the safety issues of Memorial Drive, based on the 2017 vision report. Way back then the indication was that plans were moving forward to address long-term safety issues and the need for a redesign in light of more modern urban planning. That planning for the whole of the Drive was shortly thereafter shelved, partly due to Covid, and the scope temporarily limited. Across urban centers, cities are reclaiming the public way, which had been for all modes of transit and which then in many cities gave priority to cars in our public ways. Now, it is recognized that forward thinking cities are re-allocating part of the public space back to pedestrians and cyclists. And Cambridge and Boston should as well with the valuable Charles River parkland. I still believe in the future vision of the Memorial Drive redesign, and I hope that we can get there eventually. But while we wait for state leaders to take action, the roadway remains an incredibly dangerous place for all users, especially vulnerable users like pedestrians and cyclists. For a few weeks in the fall we discussed and ultimately passed a policy order I sponsored that had a number of important short and long-term actions to improve safety on Memorial Drive. Cambridge Day covered the discussion. If we are going to be serious about making transformational improvements to Memorial Drive, we need to reactivate the public process and work to make improvements to the roadway in line with public needs. I am fully supportive of that process and continue to urge state leaders to engage with the neighborhood and the broader community of people who live and work in the area.
Garden Street Traffic Configuration
In December, the Council discussed and ultimately passed a policy order which I co-sponsored, which asked the City Manager to restore Garden Street to two-way automobile traffic while preserving protected bike lanes in both directions. I wrote about the policy order in my newsletter at the time. The switch to make Garden Street a one-way road for car traffic has had a number of unintended consequences on neighborhood traffic, including school buses, Harvard delivery trucks, and other large vehicles. This change will have no effect on access to bike lanes on Garden Street, but will reduce parking availability on Garden Street. We have heard from City staff in the past that the additional traffic disruption has not been entirely due to the one-way change, but it is no doubt a large contributing factor and we need to return the street to two-way car traffic to alleviate those disruptions. This was not the only solution considered and the Council spent several meetings to discuss mitigation solutions for dangerous traffic patterns, including changes to Appleton Street and other neighborhood streets. Eventually, we needed to consider Garden Street as a possible solution. Part of the value of quick-build bike lanes like the ones installed on Garden Street is the ability to pivot to other designs if that is what is best for the entire city. This is one instance where we should revisit the design after seeing many unintended consequences. This policy order was amended slightly to request an analysis and implementation options before next spring. The order ultimately passed unanimously and I look forward to reviewing specific implementation options for two-way car traffic and two-way protected bike lanes.
Resident Parking Permit Fee
Following a policy order that I sponsored, several discussions with Transportation staff and the Law Department, the City Manager has come forward with a recommendation in May to increase the cost of the resident parking permit sticker from $25 per year to $75 per year. There will also be a low income-eligible option, which will remain at $25 per year. I held a committee meeting in December 2023 to discuss options for amending parking fees and regulations throughout the City in order to further support the City’s goals of low carbon travel and I worked with the Law Department to understand the landscape of state law as it relates to implementing different fees. One important change will be to raise parking permitting fees to accurately reflect the real costs associated with the permitting system within the city. After further study, TPT has determined that the permit program costs at least $75 per vehicle to administer. But also, as was indicated by the Council, we also want to make sure we continue to support the needs of low-income residents, so I am glad to see the City Manager indicate they will implement the income-eligible option. By developing a low-income threshold, we could better reflect the needs of residents of all ages. Those changes should go into effect for the next permit issuance cycle. At this point, the City Manager does not recommend raising the parking permit fees for larger vehicles that take up more space on the public right of way, which I had pushed for.
Micromobility Devices
In February I cosponsored a policy order to help address the changing landscape of “micromobility devices” in our city. It’s clear that in our fast-changing transportation environment, we need to do some legal research to understand the city’s authority to regulate use of electric micromobility devices. It is very exciting that e-bikes are now finally part of the BlueBike system and that people are using e-scooters, e-skateboards, and other micromobility devices. As the policy order noted clearly, the expansion of these types of transportation options supports our goals of emission pollution reduction, and hopefully more people will use these transportation options instead of single occupancy vehicles. And there needs to be a shared understanding of what limits may be placed – speed limits and allowed locations on all such devices. The long and the short of it, based on a committee hearing and the report from the Law Department is that there is a lot more work to be done on the state-level to help regulate use of these vehicles. We know and I celebrate that electric bikes and scooters are going to play a larger role in our transportation outlook going forward and it’s important that we are clear about our road safety efforts as we cater to an increasing diversity of transportation options.
Public Safety Highlights
In March and April we received a report which included the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) review of the Cambridge Police Department’s policies, procedures, training, and protocols. This report came about following the fatal shooting of Arif Sayed Faisal on January 4, 2023 and the Council and the community’s desire to ensure that the Cambridge Police Department is doing everything it can to keep our residents safe and police in a way that betters the community. There are highlights in the report that commend the Cambridge Police Department as one of the best in the nation and reaffirm some of their best practices, but there are also troubling instances in the report that suggest that the department’s training failed to protect Faisal. Overall, the report lists over a dozen critical changes that CPD will continue to work to implement as we continue to grapple with the tragic event. Although the Council approved the use of officer-worn body cameras, the Department has yet to implement, which is disappointing. Additionally, in 2024, the Council authorized the use of cameras in major squares in order to better protect public safety – those cameras will be implemented in 2025. It’s important to remember that the use of these kinds of technologies are in accordance with our strong Surveillance Ordinance.
In addition to the work of the Cambridge Police Department, in 2024 the Community Safety Department and the CARE team have made progress with hiring and implementation. I look forward to CARE continuing to develop. And I will also mention, I look forward to the city working with HEART, which has been ongoing. HEART was able to launch their emergency call hotline last year. The vision of having a city department as well as a contracted non-profit is one I support. We know that for some in the community, a city-run service is essential. We also know that for some, they will not feel comfortable without a non-city alternative. I continue to support both services to help meet the needs of the community.
Other Highlights
Charter Review
In January, the Charter Review Committee delivered their long-awaited final report. Several times in 2024 the Council met as part of the Gov Ops Committee and as part of the Special Committee on Charter Review to discuss the status of the Charter Review process and develop a timeline and plan for advancing recommendations. Through a number of meetings we have begun to decide which changes the City Council will recommend to the voters. This process will continue through a number of other meetings as we unpack the recommendations in more detail. As the councillor who worked closely with then Mayor Siddiqui to get the charter review process started, I do wish we were further along – it has been slow. The next meeting of the Special Committee will be on January 27.
Ceasefire Resolution
In early February, the Council debated and ultimately passed unanimously a resolution calling for an immediate negotiated ceasefire in Gaza. It was an incredibly difficult conversation for our community and followed months of debate and many public protests. After 15 months of war and nearly a year since the City Council passed that resolution, a ceasefire agreement is in place. I wrote about my complicated thoughts in my newsletter back in February 2024, but it has been hard dealing with the reality of this conflict and what our role as Americans and as Cantabrigians should be. I do not have all the answers, but as a City Councillor, I will always commit to thinking critically about what is best for Cambridge and doing my best to act in that way.
Municipal Broadband
We made a lot of progress in 2023 on municipal broadband efforts. After years of work, in March we received a long-awaited feasibility study. And in December 2023 we got another update from the City Manager this week on Municipal Broadband and Digital Equity progress in Cambridge. These new updates are in response to policy orders I filed asking for the city manager to continue working on the proposal. In 2024 I worked with my fellow councillors to continue discussions and urge the City Manager to continue to push for this important investment in our community. In June, the NLTP Committee held an important follow up to the feasibility study from 2023. We heard from city staff, from community advocates, and also from representatives from Loveland, CO, where they have a fully operational municipal broadband program. It was great to hear about the incredible results in Loveland and also hear about some of the details of their implementation. If we are going to work towards digital equity through municipal broadband, we will need to rely on best practices from test cases like Loveland. It was incredible to hear about their transformative process: in a few years they went from struggling with private providers and limited service options to a fully operational and revenue-generating service that benefits all residents. While our city model will likely not be revenue neutral after 20 years as Loveland’s will be, I fully support us moving forward on the next steps, and refine our models and understand how to implement broadband and what it would cost in investment. There are still a lot of complicated details to work through in 2025 and I am committed to having those conversations because I believe that municipal broadband is an essential investment in our residents and in our future. Municipal broadband will cost money and will require a significant public-private partnership, and yet we need to make these kinds of investments. Just as we invested $299 million in building a new school, we should invest the $100-$200 million in a future-proof municipal internet network. This investment is important and can protect residents’ essential utility service for many decades as well as provide immediate cost benefits to residents through competition.
Porchfest
Following a policy order I sponsored in May, the Cambridge Arts Council has announced an inaugural PorchFest & Deckfest for this summer! I’m excited for the potential of this fun event and I am glad the Arts Council was able to fit it into a great schedule of 2025 Citywide Arts Events and Festivals. I look forward to discussing the new initiative and their entire 2025 schedule with City staff.
Looking Forward to 2025
There is a lot to look forward to and a lot of important work to get done in 2025, and a lot of opportunities to build upon previous years’ work. I am committed to continuing the work of financial oversight and capital planning to ensure financial stability going forward. We have more work to do to ensure our climate policies are implemented successfully and we have more work to do to improve our various roadmaps, including the Urban Forest Master Plan and the Zero Waste Master Plan. We need to continue planning for climate resiliency and road safety. And we also have to continue to support housing supply and affordability. We will no doubt finalize multifamily zoning changes next month – February – and I am committed to continuing to collaborate with my colleagues on this groundbreaking ordinance.
I will continue to strive for a balanced approach to our many efforts to improve the city. I am committed to hearing and listening to neighborhood voices and work towards better communication from the city administration. I am also committed to working through the difficult financial discussions regarding prioritizing spending and insisting on more transparency and fairness with our spending. We also have to do more evaluation of programs and assess the effectiveness of our spending. I will continue to work with the city manager to improve government function and culture throughout the entire city.
Local Events/Notes
Broadway Safety Improvement Project Announces Three Upcoming Community Meetings
The City of Cambridge is installing separated bike lanes on Broadway between Quincy St and Portland St. The project will bring a number of changes to the corridor, including the installation of separated bike lanes. The Traffic, Parking, and Transportation Department is hosting a number of open houses both virtually and in-person to share more about the project and what to expect. The schedule for these events is:
- Tuesday, January 28: Virtual Community Meeting from 6-8 p.m. This will include an approximately 45-minute presentation by city staff, followed by time for attendees to ask questions.
- Tuesday, February 4: In-Person Open House from 4-6 p.m. at Fletcher-Maynard Academy, 225 Windsor St. This is a drop-in event. You can come at any time and stay for however long you like.
- Thursday, February 6: In-Person Open House from 6-8 p.m. at the City Hall Annex, 344 Broadway. This is a drop-in event. You can come at any time and stay for however long you like.
Join us at one of these events and sign up for the project email list to stay involved with this project. Learn more.
Renew Your Residential Parking Permits In-Person and Online Today
As of January 2, 2025, residents can renew and apply for their 2025 Resident or Visitor Parking Permits in-person at 344 Broadway or online at www.cambridgema.gov/rpp. Make sure to renew your Resident and/or Visitor Parking Permit by March 31, 2025.
Thank You
Thank you to everyone for reading. If there are any topics you want me to cover in future newsletters, I’m always happy for the input! As always, please feel free to reach out to my aide, Patrick (phayes@cambridgema.gov), or me for any of your City Council needs.
You can find all previous newsletters on my website. Please share with anyone you think would be interested: https://pattynolan.org/news/